ulean work of forcing his way up the
Mississippi and capturing New Orleans, the greatest commercial city in
the South. Knowing that such an attack was certain to be made, the
Confederates had neglected no precaution in the way of defence. Ninety
miles below the city, and twenty miles above its mouth, at the
Plaquemine Bend, were the forts of St. Philip and Jackson. The former,
on the left bank, had forty-two heavy guns, including two mortars and a
battery of four seacoast mortars, placed below the water battery. Fort
Jackson, besides its water battery, mounted sixty-two guns, while above
the forts were fourteen vessels, including the ironclad ram _Manassas_,
and a partially completed floating battery, armored with railroad iron
and called the _Louisiana_. New Orleans was defended by three thousand
volunteers, most of the troops formerly there having been sent to the
Confederate army in Tennessee.

The expedition against New Orleans was prepared with great care, and so
many months were occupied that the enemy had all the notice they could
ask in which to complete their preparations for its defence. The Union
expedition consisted of six sloops of war, sixteen gunboats, twenty
mortar schooners and five other vessels. The _Mississippi_, upon which
young Dewey was serving as a lieutenant, was under the command of
Melanethon Smith. The land troops numbered 15,000, and were in charge of
General Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts.

Farragut arrived in February, 1862, nearly two months after the
beginning of preparations to force the river. When everything was in
readiness the fleet moved cautiously up stream, on April 18, and a
bombardment of Forts St. Philip and Jackson was opened, which lasted for
three days, without accomplishing anything decisive. Farragut had
carefully studied the situation, and, confident that the passage could
be made, determined it should be done, no matter at what cost. On the
night of the 23d his vessels were stripped of every rope and spar that
could be spared, the masts and rigging of the gunboats and mortar
vessels being trimmed with the limbs of trees, to conceal their identity
from the Confederate watchers.

At two o'clock in the morning the signal was hoisted on the _Hartford_,
Captain Farragut's flagship, and the fleet started in single line to run
the fearful gauntlet. The _Cayuga_ led, the _Pensacola_ followed, and
the _Mississippi_ was third. The rebels had huge bonfires burning on
both